Refusing or suspending access to a Student Loan

The reasons a Student Loan is refused or suspended can vary.

Some examples are:

• not meeting the performance requirement - passing at least half their courses
• misuse of payments or
• attempted fraud

Refusal of a Student Loan, or suspension of access to a Student Loan may be temporary, or for a longer period of time, depending on the student's circumstances.

Note for more information regarding the legislative basis for eligibility and entitlement to a Student Loan, see:

When considering whether to refuse or suspend access to a Student Loan, all the relevant information, including the student's circumstances, need to be confirmed.

Questions you may need to ask include, (but are not limited to):

1. Does the student have very high debt levels in relation to the type of course they want to study or their particular situation?

• high debt on its own may not be a problem as high levels of debt resulting from high cost courses may not lead to poor outcomes for students

2. Has the student repeatedly failed a course (e.g. 2 or more times) and is therefore unlikely to succeed or complete their qualification?

• if a student is continually failing a course or has excessive debt levels, a discussion could be arranged between the student, the education provider and if the student's under 18 years, their parents to discuss our concerns

3. Is there suspicion of fraud or misuse of the Student Loan Scheme?

• is the student using the scheme primarily as a form of income support (as opposed to providing support for gaining a qualification)? For example, it is clear a student has only applied for the Student Loan scheme as a means of support as they do not qualify for a main benefit under the Social Security Act 2018, or a student is applying for and accessing multiple Student Loan course-related cost entitlements for costs not related to their course.

4. Is there ongoing use of a Student Loan that is more than is considered reasonable for achieving the intended qualification? For example by applying for and/or accessing multiple course-related costs for similar items.

5. Is the intended study appropriate given the student's personal circumstances?

• the student may have a medical or other condition that would make it inappropriate for them to undertake certain types of study or certain areas of study

When suspending access to a Student Loan account you must consider:

• why the suspension is required
• what components of the Student Loan account are being suspended
• what date the suspension is effective from
• what actions are required (by both StudyLink and the student) for the Student Loan account to be reactivated
• if reactivated, the date the Student Loan account should be reactivated

It is important to gather all the relevant information to correctly make an assessment of a student's circumstances.